The Sun. — London, England, 1808-10-15 00:00:00

I I • If tire reader would noW know what, after all, were the troops 'with which the Wench engaged in the second affair of Dego, we_ will, with the most sacred regard to truth, lay before a military fad which well deserves to be recounted. It was oily with a sinle Austrian regiment that the-French had to contend; this Was the regiment of Wokazowich, composed of three battalions, and amounting, at the utmost, to' three thousand men ! This regiment was encamped at Ponzone, near Sabello, when it received orders from D'ALLGENTLiAII to march in all haste to succour Dego. It was D'AaGtwreAu's intent, that it should set. out on the morning of the 14th, but his order, which was written after mid night, was dated on the 14th, and he had said, without observing the mistake, that it should begin its march the morning after. It did not, . therefore, move till the 15th, and this involuntary delay was fortunate for it. While on its march, and winding round the mountain. in the road from Ponione to Seigno, it met a peasant of this latter place. The man slopped, and observing that . the regiment was inelning towards Dego, bluntly asked the first o;licer that.came up, where be was matching ? " You have a great deal of cu riosity for a peasant," replied tine Officer, roughly. " It is not curiosity," rejoined he, without being disconcerted, -" that makes we ask, but a wish to prevent you .from running into danger. As tar as I can coujedure, yoa'are marching to Dego you are ignorant, then, that it .surrendere&yesterday:even ing to the French." The Officer, quite astonished at this intelligence,- eagerly demanded of the pea sant, how he acquired it. " Sir, said he, " y ou see the spot. at the foot gf the mountain ; that is Spigao, my country. It is scarcely an hour since I left it : know,' then, that this morning, about three hours before day, there arrived a body of ten thou sand men, who left Dego immediately after its sur render, on their road to Aequi : the inhabitants of Spigno received orders .to supply them with plenty of bread, of meat, .of rice, and of wine they - have eaten and drank to the full and, be lieving the enemy to be at a distance, are all gone to It may not be improper to ,transcribe this letter of the mountebank Diredory to,the mountebank General. 66 It is satisfaaory to, the Dire&cry to see the choice which they made of you to lead the ain't). of Italy to vidory, justified by the laurels which you have just gathered.; .Ac. cept, General, the tribute of national gratitude.. ,-P4.:sqrve it more and more, and prove to all Europe, u Lieu, by changing the field'of battle, has not changed hiS =pay .; that, beaten in the North, he will continue to be so, by the brave Army of Italy ; and that; wish such defenders, liKry will triumph over the feeble etEarts of the enemies 'of the Republic." 1 is nut easy to decide whether such jargon as this should extite our m►rth or our indignation. These fivc. Dircdors„ the tilth and scum of the nation, had the sott sit vanity to aMct. the majestic tone of the Senate and Vitiators of Rothe But, in their mouth, this language was' sheer stupidity.-- They . mistook their arrogance for dignity, and struggled t• hide their primitive meanness by brutality of.insolehce. in:11 Biifa.; - no, winch only biK miles from Acqui, arid, refreshing bis troops, returned to head- qtilirter?•i; • - 1 Ant why did he return ? Because he received - a second tit-patch from D'AUGENTIAL7,WIIO had halted at Sp •tto, to inform bun that thiisame . culumn, in ~.steai advaneirig, - had:fillen back to take its first -bec.inse a- go continued to defend itself with te, utmost vigour. But the paitizanS of France will say it is quite itkrtain that BeAtiutn, with ids' seveti thousand men, was defeated at Dego, 'sill' BUONAPARTg mentions it, in express terms, to the Directory No v, it is not pnsSible to believe that a Cut - nu - Linder in Chief would transmit a fact of this nature to the beads of the nation if it were not positively ascer tained. This objection would be valid in ordinary tines, when ►he Generals are chosen out,of a class of men .who respell truth as they do their honour, but it is of no weight in a period of such mad con vulsion as this before us, when. the Generals were seteaed from the most contemptible, odious, and guilty of mankind. Is it then surprising that Ruo- ISAPARTE, the criminal agent of a Government supported enttrely by falsehood and crimes, should have aspired to rival his masters in a daring contempt of truth ? But, resume they, the. Dire Tory was so con- , vinced of it, that they wrote a letter of felicitation to BCTONAPARTE.* And where, and when, did , these Gentlemen learn that a letter of the Diredory Was a passport to truth ? That five Cut-throats, op pressors of their country, should believe, or pretend to believe, a falsehood, cannot, we presume, change its nature. Besides, if BUONAPARTE was interest ed in having it believed that he had-beaten a cele brated General, -because it brought more glory to the vidur, the Directors, on their part, were no less interested in maintaining that their troops were con stantly superior to the best officers of the enemy, since it. enabled them to keep the nation in a state of stupid slavery, and encouraged the Conscripts to join an army where laurels were gathered without intermission, and without - danger ! keep in the streets, as the houses are incapable of receiving such a multitude. What an excellent coup -de-main might you strike! I would myself condua you to Spigno by a by-road, well covered with trees. Your sudden arrival will fill them with terror, and you may wake them all prisoners." The Officer to whom the peasant addressed him self was a Captain,. who took him to his Colonel.— He questioned him very closely, and he repeated, with the simplicity of truth, every thing that he had said to the Captain. The Colonel ordered the regiment to follow the road marked out by the pea sant, and to pour in their fire on the enemy the in stant that they arrived at 40`pigno. This was done; and the reader rr,ay judge of the surprise and terror of the French, when they saw the enemy so near them ! The victory was complete :. a vast number of them were killed, still more wounded, and twen ty-four pieces of cannon, and six tri-coloured flags taken. Colopel WoKAZOwICH immediately gave BEAU- LIEU an account of this unexpetled vi6tory,*for which he was indebted to the ads ice of a pool : peasant ;. of Spigno. The General lost no time in sending for I the cannon, the ammunition waggons, and the pri soners, whpse arrival filled the town of Acqui with 1 Joy. Colonel WOKAZOWICH did not content himself with writing to BEAULIEU ; he wrote also to D'AR"' GENTEAU ; and entreated him to . send immediately a strong reinforcement of men, and ammanition; to enable filth - to keep possession of Dego w which. 1) F.; hoped to retake. In effeia, he did retake it,' having found it without troops ! The French, absolutely panick-struck, bad evacuated. it before his arrival. They bad joined the fugitives who escaped i jrom Spigno, and al!, supposing that they were pursued by a considerable body, accelerated their flight win- out once daring to look behind them. Wox,tzo- WICII then took possession of Dego without the smallest obstacle. He found theie tt,e.same.artillery which had been kit oy the brave Ahstro-Sardioian Garrison ; and, alter pursuing tl French to a con siderable distance, tell back, and entrenched himself there, waiting, but in vain, all that clay and the fol-. lowing night, for the reinforcements which he had demanded of the itlfaMOUS D'ARGENTEALT. BUONAPAitTE, informed, at length, Of the small number of enemies who had again taken. possession of Dego, and determined to defend it, sat down be fore it with an immense force. He allows that. it was gallantly defended; and in this he is. corre&; but he persists in maintaining that it was defended by BEAULIEU, and in that, he does not advance one sylitble of truth. It became necessary to yi.ld to superiority of numbers, and determine on a retreat. WoKAze wtcu did it, but in so noble, so brilliant a manner, that it is impossible not to aoinire such a display of skill and intrepidity. At two in the eternoon, the Colonel observing that the enemy's columns were continually receiving reinforcements, and that his own means of defence were on the point of failing, assembled his principal Officers, and addressed them in these words : " My brave Comrades, our ammunition is nearly all expended; there is but one way to preserve our selves, and that is to open a passage to Acqui by the sabre and the bayonet. This method is somewhat perilous, it is true, but it is necessary. After having covered ourselves with glory yesterday, as well 'as to day, shall we tamely surrender ?. A true Croat never fears danger; honour is the only objea whicli be has in view ! I wait for your instant reply, and I trust that it will be conformable to my own opi- nion." He was not deceived; the reply was courageous, and the execution still more so. The signal was given ; 'all the companies marched out, and threw themselves with intrepidity and fury on the left to Dego, 'to gain the road to Spigno and Acqui. It was now that a most tierce and bloody contest took place, with the bayonet and the sword, man to man ; a contest of the most glorious kind Inc the Croats. The vast numbers of the enemy struck no terror into them : the more the danger in creased, and the obstacles appeared insurmountable, the more their courage blaied! They broke the ranks, and opened ,themselves a way through the thickest of the enemy's battalions. In a word, the retreat was effeaed, and these soldiers, covered with . dust, with blood, and with honour, arrived at-Acqui amidst ,the acclamations and, applauses of.the gar rison and inhabitants. BUONAPARTE asserts that they lost 2000 men, in cluding the prisoners. But he, who, his official report, states the number, of his,enemies at 7000, when they amounted, at the highest, to no more than '3OOO, might very well double the loss which they .sustained ! What I can affirm one my own kn l owledge, is, that more than half of: these three battalious reached Acqui. But, if they had really lost two-thirds 'of their nurnber, would they, for that, have less claims to' be ranked in the list of LONOON : Minted by RICHARD HARRis 4 Of No: 4. Martiett...• Uri: Bow-street; ai At the SUN-()Yr•Cli No. Li r Strand ; where idvet krements, Orders heroes? Those gallant men, who fell because they braved death with unspeakable intrepidity, and those who survived, because they sought their safety from their own arm, and from their matchless, their in superable valour ! During fifteen years that . Buo- NAPARTE has now harassed and tormented the world, can his flatterers cite a single adion which approaches, in any degree, to the sublime and im mortal trait of the Croat WOKAZOWICH ? If we are now asked how it was possible for Buo- NAPARTE to make no mention of this Colonel, nor of the advantage which he gained Over a column of ten thousand men, nor of that retreat to which no praise can do justice, we shall reply, that BUONA PAIUTE, who speaks with enthusiasm of his, personal exploits, always exaggerated, and sometimes fabri cated, usually observes a profound silence on the noble achievements and real exploits of his enemies. It 13 not that he does not sometimes praise them for their intrepidity ; because, in so doing, he praises himself still more, since that intrepidity throws a greater lustre round his vi6tories. to this we shall also add, that, with this. new 7 fangled ben), the meanness of jealousy has taken still deeper root than the frenzy of ambition. We cannot dismi'ss this article, without mention ing an episode which 'BUONA PART'S has inserted in his narration of the combat of Dego. He relates that General CAUSSE was mortally wounded at the foot of the heights which be at tacked. Finding himself on the point of expiring, he called BUONAPARTE, and allied him if Dego was retaken ? " It is," replied the Commander in Chief, " In that. case," said CAUSSE, " Vive la Kepublique! I die content," and immediately ex pired. BUONAPARTE falls into an extacy at this stir= [Aline ejaculation of a dying Republican ; and yet there is not much in it to produce such raptures, since this fanatic cry has been repeated by thousands and ten thousands of rePuUlicans at the point of death, if we may believe the official reports made to RoBESitERRE f, to the Directory, and to litioNA PARTE himself, before he took it ill his head to cal himself a Prince ! What would be curious in the highest degree; would be to know what language this same General CAUSSE would have held in the arms of death, if he could have ascertained that this Republic, the objet} Of his tenderness, and which occupied his last thoughts, was about to be destroyed; that it would last only a few years; and that the tree of liberty, planted in the midst of hurricanes, and watered with rivers of blood, was about to be levelled with the ground, to rise no more t. If he could have ascer tained that the very man to whom be confidedhis l ast wishes, was, three or four years afterwards, under the title of First Consul, about to make him self absolute Ruler of France; and finally, its Des pot and its Tyrant, under the pompous denomina tion of Emperor ! _ . (To 6e cowirued.) t - It is proper here to compliment the Convention on a so , - litary instance of modesty. When the ylcobirrrent to the bottom, on the fourth of lune, with seven hUri'dred furious Republicans, the dreadful screams they uttered rang, many days after the at'ition, in the ears of ottl 4 bw4;iii generous tars, who ventured their lives to preserve thcm.— In the account of this catastrophe which was first given in France, 110 mention was made of the y.icai ; but the op. portunity of celebrating the energies of republicanism was not to be lost, and the Morning Chronicle of those days has the merit of announcing, that its intrepid defenders were swallowed up, shOuting Five /a Ripmaque ! The glorious intelligence, after making the round of the New Annual Re gister, the History of the War, &c. &c. reached the ears of 131,1t0 A s ; and now there is not a Frenchman, nor a Ger man, nor, perhaps, a Member of tile Whig Club thatiis not ready to swear that the whole crew of the L y f zcobin(of which our sailors, moved by their piercing shrieks, saved nearly three hundred) resolutely plunged into the-ocean, claiming Five la Republique ! CORONER'S INQUESTS.—Yesterday evening a Co roner's Inquest was• held, before ANTHONY TELL, Esq. Coroner for Westminster, on the body of . a young man, of the name of Yates, who was found dead, on Thursday, in the King's Arms Tavern, Bridge -street, Westminster. , From the evidence it appeared, that - he had very respeaable connexions ; he had been a young man of irregular condua, and was discharged by a linen-draper, near London- Bridge, to whom he was sliopman. He then ate and drank at the King's Arms, engaged a bed for the night, and was found dead in his bed in the morn ing. Mr. Lynn, the Surgeon, who was called in upon the occasion, declared, that be saw the sedi- . ment of opium in a phial and in a glass ; but, as it appear:d that the deceased was rather in a perturbed state of mind at the time, the Jury brought in a Ver did of Lunacy. Another Inquest was held, before the sane Coro ner and Jury, upon the body of Nth. Morris,,a Gert-, tlernan's wite, in that vicinity, who died suddenly, by a fall on the preceding day, and the Verdict was. Accidental death. A . third Inquest was held yesterday evening on the body of a young girl, servant to one of the per sons connected with the establishment of Bow-street Police Office. appeared• that whilst some one was speaking to her on the preceding evening, she suddenly dropped down and expired. The Verdit.t consequently was Accidental death. HIGH WATER AT LONUMN BRIDGE TO-?...it)r-:- Row. Morning, 5z min. after ro. I Afternoon, zs min:after tt. MONDAY. Morning, 58 min. after ir. f Afternonc), o min, a i rzet , o. id puhlist.e.l by WI t.L.I Ass AI2MI C J.: R. SCRIpPS MQI/4111. t; WV:CHOI-square ; or the Pater,• I titters for the. Editor, &c, (tiost- , pjidi thu3tibe addressed. STATE OF IRE 1,41171). DCALIN, OCT. iO.--4)ur domestic occurrence' wear upon the xvhole no unfavourable aspeCt ; itl 7 deed if we could except out of the statement some atrocities that have been too long persisted in in the county of Kerry, we should have to felicitate the country upon its calm and prospprous condition. That exception, however, not only must be made, but also another, which the frequent outrages committed in the county of Limerick render imperative. The incessant violations of the public peace in that county, and the continued outrages committed against the persons and properties of individmis, do not ap pear to tend to any particular objeCt. They : seem to be the offspring of a licentious love of evil, which has let itself loose upon the.community. But in the county of Kerry the midnight plundering and - murl ders have a manifest design, according as they ap' pear upon the Journals of that part of the Kingdom. The actors in these horrid designs have assumed the designation which used to denote those who had Liken up arms openly to oppOse the leVying'of tSrthe; hey distinguish theMselves by the appellation of . White Boys ; and their hostility is - direaed•against those whom dealings in tythes have rendered . Ohnoxi- OM. We speak solely upon the authority of the Kerry-Prints, the -last of whi(th.that we have receiv ed (Chute's I estern Herolc.o,.tutiDtiorp the 'murder of a Mr. Murphy, who is said to have large.posses sions in tythes. The poor and miserable of every country 'seldom enter into the subtleties or refinements of them-ticat distress. Tangible grievances they Understand, and when those press beyond a certain point, the re sentments of the people proclaim their excess. Oar peasants do really suffer—that cannot be denied.- more than in a well-adjusted condition of society the! would be required to bear ; but if a question of re' needy ever arrive, it should not be left in the hands rf those, who being themselves the authors (think ingly or unthinkingly) of many of the heaviest bur diens that rouse the p easan t' s - groan , ought not to obtain more credit for their sympathy than for their candour, when they attempt to charge upon another class of persons all the miseries of the country. • - The late declaration against tythes had the sanc tion of many honest names, no doubt ; but every thinking man, who well understood the singular Constitution of our Society, and who knew the gra vity and caution which should precede the recom mendation of remedies for public evils, saw with some apprehension the course that had been taken to clamour away. the whole Tythe System as the, spring and source of general distress. It is very true, that if the Rack-rent Landlords thought that in en' deavouring to exempt themselves from the odium of oppression, and to cast it all upon a body of men not perhaps half paid their legal dues, the peasantry' should take a part against tythes, they would have desisted at once. But the invariable result of such public proceedings is, that when sentiments and principles becomepromul gated, they sink into eierY mind ; they light upon the brain of ignorance thei, descend upon and are compound e d i n t h e rever ies of nonsense and folly. • The man of education alts and thinks becoming an enlightened mind ; but the . peasant s poor, illiterate, and oppressed, thinks am' feels as, it -is natural he should; and when he tinci' a respeaable portion of the gentry. of the coutt";" pointing out as it were -the Catne:pljais_pckmarty , denouncing it, hi s passions. - Win not allow hital„.t hold a truce with the suppoSed adversary to his bar piness, and he will not wait for.the mild and cir". cuitous remedy of the law, but become his own re" dresser. It is well for the public that the subje6 of ts'the s ' or rather that the condition of the peasantry, fornil now an anxious subject ,of consideration with the. covernment. •It will throw away all pretext intermeddling of ragged so &In' :pus and delicate, an affair; and it ohght to $ 11 g" gest to those who might incautiously ai4d most nocently have excited sensations in the peasantry which they did 'riot foresee, to exert theinselvel;' with double zeal in suppressinc , such painful conso— quences of misapprehension at - 'id mistake.—A lid Paper. SWP NEII4. GRAVESEND, OCTOBER 13. - Passed by—the Ann, Ricketts, and the Wilberforce. kinson, frotn Gotrenhurgh. min* Sailed—the Favourite, Virger, for Rio laneiro • Aitken, for Grenada ; and the Georgiana, Smith, mew. (ER . On the zd inst. in Fitzloy-street, the Lady of YloWat, Esq. of Potter's ear, of a llaue,hter. On Monday 'last, at Kelly, Scotland, the Lads 01 th t Hon. 'Alajor Ramsay, of a Son. On Tuesday, in Gloucester -street, Portman-square, tilt Lady of the Rev. Alexander Cotton, of a Son. - MARRIEn On Tuesday sennight, at I..inerick, /I ugh M'Closkei• Esq. Port Surveyor of Clare, to Miss Lysagiit, of 'troy tic, in that Comity. On Thursday List, at Farmington, I. K. I)ouglas, Esl' sc...corxi son of +ingather-General Douglas, to Isabella eldest daughter of Thomas Esq.of FarodtlAtu i 'l G louceste+shire, and. Mary- le-bone. Park. DIM). Yesterday morning, -at her house in Piccadilly, N l(5. Hawkes, wite of Thomas Hawkes, Esq. On the sth inst. at Cneritaey, after a•severe and lingering illness of stx weeks, Mr. N. E.. Robinson, late of liond.euur l r. Walbrook, London - . Lately, in Dublin, Mrs, Gabbett, wife of William GO: bett, Esq. of Monte Video, in the County of ao daughter of the late .Colonel Waller, of Castle Waller, in t.l- 4 . County of Tipperary. • A few days ago, at Oxford, aged above go ' at the housc„ • herson, the Rev. the Warden of All Souls College, M: 7 ,i lsham, relied of the late . Rev. Eusebius !sham, and rnr )t ',. l . of the present Sir ustinian I sham, Bart. of L-arnPort, No r, '7 • amptoushire, On Thursday se'rinight, at the house of Surgeon Frankl i n; inWilliam street, Limerick, where he was on a visit, Sandes, Esq. ,of Carrunakilla, near 'Farber, in t:,e of Kerry. He went to .bM . apparcutly well, but coon complained, on which Do.A.,rs Geary and Gruen wg rc ,`, l ll , stantly sent for; they arrived in less. than six minutes , to witiicss his dissolution, he having expired hulnediatel o Y7 their arrival. t' I( IC P., V , :A A Y ES7 RDAY, %),, yank Stock; 232 233 i India Stock, Navy i per Cent 98i if India Bond(, 3s. 4S : Pr' „ r , Irish 5 per Cent. Exchequer isil Is, SS• 7 5 - 4 Per ‘..ent. .79 i i 80 f 8o umninul, 3 22 3 (Its. 3 per Cent. kcd 65 1 i I inperiai . 3 yo,r Cent. , , q ~ 3 per Cent : Con. 6i 406 65i Cons. for 25th Nov. 6d i i . I, sank L. Ann. 17 15.16ths 18 ' . - '